Related Events

If you’ve never been to the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, you’re missing an exceptional experience and an incredible lesson in sales.

When you enter this building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, you’ll immediately be amazed by the rotunda exposing the entire museum. Art is everywhere and a giant ramp wraps around six floors of art treasures.

The question is: Where do you start? The answer is simple: Start at the top.

Same in sales.

I first wrote about this process 21 years ago in 1993. There was no Internet. Your cell phone was in a bag or hard-wired into your car. No email. Life was simple, but getting to the CEO was hard.

I wrote about starting at the top and gave recommendations about how to contact the CEO’s “secretary” to get the appointment.

I asked the obvious (sales) questions: Why would you walk uphill when you can walk downhill? Why would you start at the bottom when you can start at the top?

Those same questions still apply today.

Isn’t it easier to make a sale when you start with the CEO? And today there are a dozen or more different ways to get to that same CEO than there were 21 years ago.

Picture this: You walk into a crowded museum (or a crowded sales environment) and you saunter over to an un-crowded elevator. You enter an empty elevator car and push the top floor button. Boom! Easier than you thought — same in sales — and the CEO’s office is the least crowded in the building.

Think about this: If you start on the first floor, at the lowest and easiest point of entry, whoever is in charge has to call upstairs to their daddy on the 2nd floor to find out if they can do business with you.

And depending on the size and deal, the guy on the second floor may have to call his daddy on the third floor. And, of course, the guy on the third floor may have to call his dad on the fourth floor, and so on up the ladder.

And, of course, the salesperson has to climb up the ladder instead of walking down — complaining all the way.

Or worse, sometimes a salesperson will send me an email saying, “The guy at the bottom won’t let me talk to his boss” and wants to know how to get around him. The easy answer is: Never start with him to begin with.

Reality: Which is more powerful: Having to claw your way up the ladder and beg for permission, or beg for the sale? Or having the CEO come down and tell that guy on the first, second or third floor who he’s going to be doing business with?

That’s the difference between bottom-up and top-down.

Great news: Enter social media, the Internet, blogging, YouTube and a host of other search avenues. And enter your online reputation. All of these elements will determine whether you can earn a meeting at the top, or not.

Real world scenario: “Hi, My name is Jeffrey Gitomer. I’d like to schedule a brief appointment with the CEO. Would you mind googling me while I’m on the phone to determine my worthiness, look at my accomplishments and perhaps check on my reputation?”

Now the administrative assistant googles you to see if you deserve the meeting.

In the old days you had to convince the admin to get a meeting. Today, the Internet does the convincing for you. Gotta love it — unless you have no social media presence, no Internet presence, no Google presence, no blog, and no reputation to speak of.

Salespeople, including you, can no longer B.S. their way into a C-level meeting. You either earn it, or you burn it.

Next week I’m going to talk about the five things that CEOs are interested in. Here’s a hint: They have nothing to do with your product, but they have everything to do with the CEO, or his appointee, buying your product.

But today’s lesson is not: “See you at the top.” The lesson is: “Start at the top.”

Footnote: I tweeted this as I was walking down the ramp. @gitomer: Reputation is not about who you know, reputation is about who knows you! #gitomer #personalbrand #reputation.

More than 50 re-tweets and favorites. Gotta love it.

FREE GITBIT: Interested in the article I wrote 21 years ago? It has great insights about getting to meet the CEO: gitomer.com/articles/View.html?id=15149. Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of 12 books. For public event dates and information about training and seminars, visit gitomer.com or email salesman@gitomer.com.

Jeffrey Gitomer is an author, professional speaker and business trainer who writes and lectures on sales, customer loyalty and personal development. Contact him at salesman@gitomer.com. Follow him on Twitter @gitomer

Restricted Content

About GRBJ

Since 1983, the Grand Rapids Business Journal has been West Michigan's primary and most-trusted source of local business news. The weekly print edition of the Business Journal, a must-read for the area’s top decision-makers, is known as the business newspaper of metro Grand Rapids, Holland, Muskegon and all of West Michigan.

grbj.com provides the same trusted and objective business reporting that the Business Journal is known for -- plus real-time original content, timely enewsletters/alerts, exclusive blogs and more. Business Journal subscribers receive the weekly print edition, including bonus publications like the annual Book of Lists, and also complete access to all content on grbj.com.

The Grand Rapids Business Journal is published by Gemini Publications.